Faye+McGinnis

On September 25, 1925, Faye McGinnis, a 23-year-old clerk, died at her home in Chicago from complications of an abortion performed that day. The coroner identified two physicians, Walter Penningdorf and Walter Voight, as being responsible. They were arrested on September 25.

For Faye to choose a physician abortionist was common in Chicago in that era, though midwives were a popular choice as well.

Faye's husband, Roy McGinnis, was also arrested as an accomplice in his wife's death.

The doctors were indicted for felony murder on October 15.

Faye was a native of Mount Vernon, South Dakota. She was the daughter of Archie G. and Lena Gibson. The 1920 census shows her living with her parents and sisters Cora, age 20, and Huldah, age 15, and brother Glenn, age 8, along with 84-year-old Loraine Gibson, who was likely Faye's grandmother.

Faye's abortion was typical of criminal abortions in that it was performed by a physician. Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see [|Abortion in the 1920s].

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion] Source:


 * [|Homicide in Chicago Interactive]

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